Decision on farm loan waiver by tomorrow: CM
Kumaraswamy also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I have discussed a lot of issues with the PM. He also extended me many suggestions. He advised me given his political experience. I am grateful to him,” the CM said.
Kumaraswamy also visited Raj Ghat and offered floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
The fight over the finance portfolio is also a fight over the credit that is likely to accrue to the parties over the promised waiver of ~53,000 crore worth of farm loans, announced by Kumaraswamy, one of the JD(S) leaders cited above said.
One senior state Congress leader said: “In a coalition, the party that gets the deputy chief minister’s post also gets the finance portfolio. Having got the chief minister’s post, the JD(S) must not now also insist on the finance ministry.”
For the Congress, though, there is also the additional burden of ensuring that different regions of the state find ample representation in the government.
“Ours is the only party that exists across the state. As a result, we will have to not only work on the caste-based representation of the new Karnataka government, but also regional representation,” the Congress leader quoted above said. BENGALURU: Chief minster HD Kumaraswamy said on Monday that he would inform the people about the waiver of Rs 53,000 crore worth of farm loans, which he had promised, on Wednesday. This came on a day when former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa ramped up the pressure on the Congress-janata Dal (Secular) government, giving it a deadline of week for the announcement.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Kumaraswamy said he was being misrepresented by some people and he had never said he would not waive farm loans. “I have never said that I will not waive loans. On Wednesday, I will address the people of the state on this issue,” he said.
The CM said he would resign if he was not able to waive loans and asked people to “wait for 2-3 days”. “I definitely do not need to learn how to be pro-people from the BJP. People should not fall victim to political witch-hunt of BJP leaders,” the CM said.